Haviv Rettig Gur
The Israelis are right here. And the French are whining children who went looking for a dust-up. The church isn’t French diplomatic territory. The Israeli cops were trying to clear a path for the French minister to avoid him being assassinated on his visit. The minister decided to take an incident for political reasons. The French security men who were arrested were dressed in civilian clothes and refused to identify themselves for 30 minutes, despite carrying diplomatic IDs. As soon as they showed their IDs, they were let go. The French have what must surely be the pettiest and most inanely performative diplomatic service of any country on Earth.
Daniel Seidemann
Just another day in the 'hood. These are French security at Pater Noster Church on the Mount of Ilive being cuffed and arrested by Israeli police, minutes ago. (17:00). They had been accompanying the French Foreign Minister, whom I briefed on the Mount of Olives. Big story.